Add The California Post on Google Steve Ballmer’s decision to accept the NBA’s punishment may not be complete surrender.
It could be the Clippers’ only plausible path toward reclaiming some of the five first-round picks stripped from them.
After initially threatening to explore legal remedies, Ballmer suddenly reversed course and announced Sunday that the organization had paid its $30 million fine and would comply with the penalties arising from the Kawhi Leonard salary-cap scandal. Ballmer and business president Gillian Zucker received one-year suspensions, while basketball operations president Lawrence Frank was suspended for six months.
CBS Sports raised the possibility that cooperation could eventually persuade commissioner Adam Silver to reduce the draft sanctions. The theory rests on one unusually relevant precedent.
In 2000, the NBA stripped Minnesota of five first-round picks after uncovering secret agreements designed to circumvent the salary cap in its dealings with Joe Smith. The Timberwolves initially lost their selections from 2001 through 2005.
The league restored Minnesota’s 2003 selection after owner Glen Taylor accepted his suspension and Kevin McHale agreed to a leave of absence, allowing both sides to abandon a prolonged dispute.
One year later, commissioner David Stern returned the 2005 pick, citing Minnesota’s conduct after the case and the severity of the other penalties.
That history does not create an official appeals process or obligate Silver to show the Clippers similar mercy. Los Angeles was identified as a repeat offender, and its circumstances could become even less sympathetic if continuing scrutiny uncovers additional misconduct.
Ballmer’s statement also accepted responsibility for the disruption without conceding every finding in the NBA report. That distinction could matter if genuine contrition becomes part of Silver’s calculation.
Even one restored selection would be enormously valuable. The Clippers’ own first-rounders from 2029 through 2033 are gone, leaving the unprotected 2031 and 2033 picks acquired in the Leonard trade as essential rebuilding assets.
Fighting the league offered long odds and risked hardening its position. Compliance offers no guarantee of relief.
For a franchise staring at five empty first-round draft slots, however, precedent has cracked open a door that previously appeared sealed.
